The Holy Family with St Anne

c. 1630
Oil on canvas, 115 x 90 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid

Although Rubens run a large workshop, he was perfectly honest about his proceedings. Studio works were rigorously distinguished from those to which he had, to a greater or lesser extent, contributed. Philip IV of Spain wanted works by Rubens, and he wanted them in quantity; Rubens himself supplied them, and no assistants were permitted to help him. The Holy Family with St. Anne shows how tender the master's own hand could be in representing the warmth of family life.